Managers learn better through experience. Theory has nothing to offer Essay - 2

Managers learn better through experience. Theory has nothing to offer - Essay Example Since management as a separate discipline was established, managers have been taught in a classroom setting where most of their learning has been theoretical. Theoretical learning for managers has been ineffective due to several reasons. One of the reasons is that theoretical learning does not take into account the diversity the types of organizations that managers are required to manage (Papamarcos, 2005, p327). In the field of management, there is a wide range of organizations with different needs in terms of management styles. This perspective is not captured in theoretical management training, which has the effect of making managers apply the same techniques in management therefore leading to failure of the organizations to meet their objectives. For instance, the expertise that is required from a manager that manages technology professionals will be different from the expertise that is needed by a manager in a political organization. This is because a manager in a political orga nization will be required to have conflict handling techniques, which may not be, require of his counterpart in a technology firm since there are minimal conflicts. Leaning through theories involves using the thoughts of other people to run organizations (Mazutis & Slawinski, 2008, p444). This weakness of using theory in managers’ training is the therefore in the pattern of the managers thinking or his way of doing things which may antagonise the theory that he is supposed to use. In turn, this will mean that the manager will not give the optimal productivity that he is capable of since he has been limited by the theory. In addition, using theory limits the managers to be innovative in new and more effective ways of managing the organization that will improve its performance; this is as a result of the manager being required to follow what the theory says. For instance, a manager may have been taught that the best way to manage the employees in an organization is by being ens uring his or her commands are followed, however, the employees may perform better if they are given a democratic space to air their views on ways which they think would help to increase the productivity of the organization. Training managers theoretically may entail using theories that were applicable in the past but which may not be effective currently (Vince, 2011, p340). The global organizational environment has been changing everyday due to advances in technology and changes in global business patterns such as globalization. Due to these dynamics in the organizational environment, the processes of running the organizations have been changing making it hard to use previous techniques to run organizations in the current environment. For instance, previously any meetings that the manager had with his or her juniors involved physical presence, which meant managers, had to travel a lot especially in the organizations that had several branches. However, with the coming of teleconferen cing, the manager is able to attend meetings with other employees in different locations without being physically present. Due to the challenges that leaning through theory presents to the managers, it has been widely acknowledged that leaning through experience would work best to ensure the knowledge that